Food Packaging Shrinks While Prices Stay the Same

If you have been to the supermarket lately, you might have noticed that the prices of your favorite groceries have increased a little bit. The price of almost everything from fresh veggies to bread to milk is increasing. Hershey has even recently announced that they will be increasing the prices of all of their goods by 10 percent.

By increasing their prices, some companies worry that these straightforward price hikes will result in consumers buying less of each product or choosing cheaper alternatives, such as store-brand cereal instead of General Mills. The answer to this dilemma for the food companies? Decrease the amount of food in the packages but keep the prices the same- and, sadly for consumers, the food companies have no obligation to the consumers to tell them about this reduction.

So how much of a reduction are we talking about? The largest reduction from our list will go to Reese’s peanut butter cups, who will reduce their chocolate-peanut-butter goodness by 37 percent, or 0.1 ounces. Chicken of the Sea Tuna will be reduced by 1 ounce, or 17 percent of its total weight. Heinz Ketchup will also take four ounces of their standard bottles, reducing the bottles by 11 percent. However, it’s not only food products; non-food products are also taking a hit. Bounty paper towels will be reduced by 10 sheets, or 7.2 percent. Toilet paper and moist towelettes are also likely to be reduced in the near future, if not already.

Why are food companies like Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, General Mills, and many more having to charge more for the same products? The raw commodities used to create these products have been increasing in cost due to external factors, such as the rising cost in fuel used to transport the items.

This causes me to wonder if there’s anything we can do to combat this trend, which is sure to hurt our pocket books before too long. So far, I’ve only been able to come up with two options.
1. We can start growing our own groceries. It’s spring time, so it’s time to start growing many of your favorite fruits and vegetables in your own garden.

2. Buy from local farmers. These farmers will not incur as many transportation costs and, therefore, are likely to charge less for their goods.

Do you have any more ideas? Please share them with us below in the comment section.

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